The doctors couldn’t understand it. Indeed, the entire story is completely out of the ordinary from start to finish.

But let’s start at the beginning. It’s very important for us at ONE FOR ISRAEL that we are serving both Jewish and Arab people. We are not only serving the Jewish people but we also have a dedicated Arabic evangelism team. While aiming to reach Arabic speakers in Israel and the Palestinian Territories, we have found many from countries all around the Middle East have been tuning in to listen and engage with the gospel message coming out of Israel. It is through this outreach that a Muslim son of an Imam (let’s call him “Mohammed”), from a place that is a sworn enemy of Israel, came across our evangelistic videos in the Arabic language.

Mohammed began to connect with our team, and after some time, put his faith in Jesus as his Savior. This is a miracle in itself. He knew he would come under severe persecution from his friends, family and community for his decision to follow Jesus, and that’s exactly what happened.

About a year later Mohammed was diagnosed with cancer, and as his health deteriorated, they told him it was Allah’s curse on his life for abandoning Islam.

Mohammed, however, remained unmoved in his faith. He was unable to receive the life-saving treatment he needed where he was living, so sought options abroad. Amazingly, Israel’s borders were opened to him, and he was able to come not only to get medical help, but also to meet his Israeli brothers and sisters in the Lord!

Healing inside and out

Our team were able to go to the hospital where he was receiving cancer treatment to meet face to face for the first time. They prayed with him for healing and worshipped together and others around heard and saw them. Mohammed was weak, unable to walk on his own, and had lost all his hair. He was looking death in the face. Turning to some of our team he told them, “No one will baptize me in my home town, but I might die—I want to be baptized! Can you come and get me and baptize me?” His request meant that he would miss some of his cancer treatment, but Mohammed was determined. His priorities were set.

Early that morning Carlos, head of Arabic outreach, made the arrangements for Mohammed to come and be baptized here at ONE FOR ISRAEL, up on the roof of our building in an inflatable pool. Together with Dr. Erez Soref, Carlos baptized our brother, with the whole Jewish and Arab staff team joyfully surrounding them. They sang worship in both Arabic and Hebrew, and Erez asked them all, “Which of us could have thought when we got up this morning that we’d be baptizing this dear brother from a Muslim background, from an enemy country, up on the roof today?”

It was not long after this event that Mohammed contacted us again from his home country.

He was happy to report that to the doctors’ astonishment, the tumor in his brain had vanished completely, and that the growth in his lungs had reduced to half the size!

Today, his blood tests are continuing to show significant improvement and all signs of cancer in his head have completely disappeared. In just one month since his baptism, Mohammed is now able to walk again freely on his own, and the doctors have been amazed at how significant the improvements have been in such a short time. More than that, Mohammed has been able to share his faith with his family throughout this process, and now they are beginning to listen.

Our God is a God of miracles! He hears our prayers and answers them.

Bless the Lord, O my soul,
    and all that is within me,
    bless his holy name!
Bless the Lord, O my soul,
    and forget not all his benefits,
who forgives all your iniquity,
    who heals all your diseases,
who redeems your life from the pit,
    who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy,
who satisfies you with good
    so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.
(Psalm 103:1-5)

Photo by Gus Moretta on Unsplash, for illustration purposes only